The method of Radiesthesia is an attempt to enhance the extraordinary garden which lies within our reach, if only we ask. The word RadiesthesiaRadiesthesia (the perception of waves) a word coined by a reputed French dowser in 1920. The French were very prolific in their literature on dowsing in the early 20th century. A schism soon developed with fundamentally one group wanting to have the support of science, and the other of a more mystical nature, these two schools of radiesthesia, “Physical” and “Mental” radiesthesia went their separate ways evolving into the rather vague mass we find today, ranging from rigid physical systems, such as Biogeometry proposed by Ibrahim Karim, for those who believe that all objects emit radiation, to new-age types, like Erich Hunter who would seem to have appropriated God’s job and ensures “healing”, with a pendulum no less. The bedrock of all these, and there is probably just the right method for one and all out there somewhere, is belief, so there is little point arguing for one rather than another. Having said that, however, there is the practical aspect – “does it work?”, and inevitably that is a personal matter, which may well change over time and as a function of context. The method exposed here is based on the combination of the French radiesthesists’ original research, Vedantic teaching for a handle on the reality of spirit, Traditional Chinese Medicine for an insight into the physiological and psychological makeup of man, and of course personal experience.

“The result of a research is due neither to the divining rods or the pendulum, they are simply visual indicators of muscular reflexes, it is due to my active desire to find the answer. It is my instinct or unconscious that may answer in the form of nervous or muscular reaction, of which I am unaware, causing the instrument to move.”

Antoine Luzy, p.258, La Radiesthésie Moderne, 1943.

The whole issue of “knowing vs. not-knowing”, “yes/no” can be boiled down to an understanding of consciousness. At the end of the day the intuitive element seems to be of the essence.

Who does one ask – apart from Google – when you cannot find an answer?
A quick look at what is involved reveals that the conscious cerebral mind, no matter where its apparent seat – in the brain, small intestine or heart, receiving information from the senses then processed thanks to memory, emotion and experience, finds itself at a loss. I don’t know! If you believe that there is more to life than the five senses, such as a capacity to communicate other than via the human sense organs, then please read on, if not, godspeed!

Quite what is the nature of sense-input is beyond the scope of this paper. Clearly of a frequential nature, magnetic, electromagnetic, …. In all probability you have personally experienced what we vaguely refer to as an intuitive moment. A premonition, déjà vu, the ability to know what someone is thinking and so on. The lack of familiarity with such surprising instances can soon undermine their reality and you begin to doubt even their very existence.

If, however, you can eliminate – even temporarily – the constraints of scientific empirical education, you are confronted with the idea of there being a totality, a cohesion in all that exists. A connection enabled by existence and consciousness if you like. We do not need to be told of the relativity of all that exists in Nature, there is a place and role for one and all. Such a scheme involves an order, a structure and intelligence so that bananas grow on banana trees rather than oranges, summer follows spring and so on. We can only perceive part of the picture for the simple reason we are part of it.

We spend most of our lives as humans involved in the manifestation of the structural aspect of this remarkable construct of life. By observation of the order spread by Nature before our eyes permanently and generously, we catch a glimpse of the underlying intelligence. That is what dowsing is about. Connecting to the underlying structure, allowing a connection between the thought-free cerebral mind with the all-conscious. There are many different words to express these concepts and they are all as useful and real as the next.

If asked to define dowsing, perhaps “It is the act of directly and deliberately calling upon the all-conscious to search for answers that cannot be discovered by other means”. It is essentially simple and totally dependent on the mental activity of the operator, who, however, must understand how to create the vital relationship between the all-conscious and conscious mind.

Fundamentally, there is nothing more to it. It would be vain and damaging to try and incorporate false theories and to impute them to foreign phenomena. What is discovered mentally, although the process may be explained in terms of electro-magnetic brainwaves with a certain frequency, should not then be appropriated and interpreted as something other than what it is. Modern teaching encourages, perhaps dictates, us to orient our thought processes in a certain direction so that everything potentially falls into the domain of the empirical, a field where science operates very well and where phenomena can be analysed.

The last thing we need in radiesthesia is for information coming from the all-conscious to be altered, as it will inevitably be, by conscious thought. If the objective is to perceive the information devoid of suggestion, we need to break the habit of predominantly logical thought and reasoning, so carefully instilled over the years. Discrimination between what comes from the all-conscious mind and what we commonly accept as the phenomenal world must be nurtured. They are both no doubt necessary, but should not be deliberately confused, at the risk of spreading further misunderstanding.

This frontier is of great consequence in the image and understanding of the art, radiesthesia is an art and physics is a science, even if the paradigm of the latter is being constantly revised. Radiesthesia has nothing whatsoever to do with empiricism (experience based on observation of the five senses), we are in the domain of totality. Anyone who tells you otherwise is not only ignorant but doing radiesthesia a dis-service. There is no need to attribute irrelevant extraneous factors to it, whether physical or magical. There is no reason to claim scientific approval for what we are doing, the realm of the all-conscious cannot be contained by mere chimera.

THE METHOD OF RADIESTHESIA

Welcome to the extraordinary world of radiesthesia!

This is an easy “barefoot” way to determine if something (food, drink, person, object, situation) is beneficial or not – for you or others.

There is very little that cannot be determined using this method, though becoming confident in its use and understanding the practice require some work, almost everyone can become proficient in its use.

This is a universe that opens to those who can accept intuition as being a valid reality and then turn it to decisive action.

The first step in radiesthesia – having decided what tool you prefer to use – is to decide how you work with that tool. How do you achieve the yes or no answer? But, first it might be an idea to have an overview of what is going on.

Everything is connected and interdependent, forming a unity if you will. That is our intimate experience, it is not a theory. While such a situation can never be recognized so long as we are in the modern paradigm which works on the principle of separation, that fact remains and nothing we do or say can change it.

This is very powerful knowledge and forms the basis of the human condition called upon in radiesthesia. There is, however, a restriction in the way this knowledge reaches us, the answers can only come one at a time! And only in the form of yes or no.

So be kind on yourself, take your time! The overall picture will be completed with patient questioning but the process remains binary at all stages.

This also means that a question has to be prepared on a structured decision-tree concept. The question must also be very precise. Any ambiguity in formulation risks meeting with failure in finding the correct answer. You must become a Sherlock to succeed!

This may sound complicated but it isn’t. Like everything else, you need to establish a method.

The way to limit potential mistakes is by careful thought before asking a question, but before doing that you need to decide what is the yes or no movement and that is why you create a convention.

THE CONVENTION

The convention is your personal code, the method in the movement. Before starting to work with a pendulum, divining rods, friction between thumb and forefinger, BIDORT, sway, etc. you need to determine what is “yes” and what is “no”. There is only one strong recommendation here whatever you choose, once you have decided, do not change.

From now on, I assume it is the pendulum we are working with because of its extreme simplicity requiring only one hand.

It could be a clockwise and anti-clockwise rotation of the pendulum? A lateral, north-south, sideways, east-west swing? From personal experience and use, often in strange places – such as in the dark when you cannot see the movement, or in bad weather when the movement is influenced by the wind, the first option wins, but your call!

With the rods, there can only be a crossing of the two rods or a stationary position. But the same applies, once you have decided what is yes, do not change.

THE HOW

Sit comfortably at a table or desk, with the pendulum in hand – always try to use the same hand, the bio-magnetic charge plays a part in the equation, so best to keep it simple and use only one hand every time. Rest your elbow on a firm surface, allowing your wrist to be completely relaxed – no tension – so that the pendulum is hanging down held between the forefinger and thumb. Tension on the string can interfere with the pendulum movement, so keep contact between the string and fingers to a minimum. Some pendulums come with a bead on the string, hold the bead not the string and keep the string free of friction.

Be at ease, mindless, because response time may vary, especially to begin with. There is a similarity between meditation and using a pendulum in several areas. One of which is keeping your back straight, it facilitates the nervous flow, so it is best to sit upright. The least distractions, whether visual or audible, the better. To begin with, always assume the same position with your body until you feel confident that an answer comes regardless of your physical posture.

THE STATE OF MIND

The mental process is simple, when you start a research there is an intention, a well-defined purpose known as the mental designation of the object sought. What exactly do you want?

The mental designation fixes the purpose of the research, focusses it and it accompanies the desire to find what you want, this desire is formulated as an expression of an auto-suggestive nature which triggers the mental activity and solicits the all-conscious.

Let’s take an example: You want to know if the yogurt in front of you is good for you?

Don’t allow the TV hype and your friends’ taste to influence you. You are not sure if there is MSG in there? You have an allergy to goat’s milk? You don’t like certain brands of yogurt? Many reasons may exist for you wanting to know if it is good for you.

But, you don’t know if it is good for you or not? Now, in your current state of health? Is it the right thing for you to eat? Eliminate all the details for or not eating it. KEEP IT SIMPLE SUNSHINE (the US Navy invented the KISS acronym and were never known for their finesse, so Sunshine it will be!).

Your intention must be perfectly simple – to know if the yogurt is the right thing for you to eat, so keep the expression of the question simple and only allow that idea to exist in your mind. Again, the practice of meditation is useful as it enables this kind of focus more easily.

Focussing on the yogurt, looking at the package or contents in your bowl, ask the question, “Is this yogurt good for me to eat now?”

Go vacant! No thought, especially concerning the result. It will come, probably quite quickly but give it space. The pendulum will start its movement and you are in the know.

You have three ways of working with your yogurt! I would recommend, to start with, playing with the first two. Once you gain confidence, try the third, but always feel at ease with your method.

With your pendulum hand resting on the surface and the other hand in relation with the yogurt:

1/ Place your other hand over the container and ask the question. The “yes” or “no” answer will come in the way you have practised.

2/ Place your other hand on the same surface as the yogurt (e.g. table) with about 20 cm between them. With your pendulum in that interval space, ask the question. The pendulum will swing either in a line connecting your hand and the yogurt, in which case it is “Yes”. Or, it will swing sideways, breaking the connection, it is not the right thing for you today!

3/ Simply look at the yogurt or have it fixed in your mind’s eye, ask the question. The answer will come in your chosen manner.

It is exciting the first time you feel the pendulum moving and there is a good chance that you will always feel a sense of awe. Stay humble and grateful.

SOME BACKGROUND

I know for me that it is important to understand what I am doing so that I can repeat the process, learn from my mistakes and refine things as the practice develops. From an early age I was lucky enough to be taught a framework as to how things relate in our world. Not that you are expected to sign up to my belief system but it might be an idea to clarify how the head and the heart operate. For you to find your comfort zone because you are likely to be criticised, scorned and laughed at for using a pendulum. For some it is magic, for others, pseudo-science, yet others, outright nonsense. Not our concern.

The cerebral conscious element, the “mind”, is a powerful tool but with severe limitations because it functions in close collaboration with the emotions, those sensations acquired by means of individual experience and our education (parents, teachers, books, movies, music, etc.). This “mind” has nothing whatsoever to do with reality, it is an image or a personal interpretation which is sometimes shared with others when we call it the world.

The real stuff is universal and the word contains a clue, uni, or the oneness that is the canvas on which all our feelings and perceptions can find expression. This is what I call the all-conscious. It is always there, nothing can affect it, everything has it and nothing can be without it. By using a pendulum one is simply calling out to this all-conscious because that is where everything is deposited, including knowledge, not in any of the so-called faculties of the conscious cerebral mind.

Call it what you will, it is not bothered by names. IT IS.

When working with a pendulum one needs to be mentally removed from the domain we normally operate in, we need to be in the all-conscious zone, with no thing influencing our capacity of connection. For it is a question of developing another sense, so to speak. That connecting sense is always there, and always has been, we forgot about it, that’s all!

Answers to your questions are there but if the connection is clouded by the rational, conscious mind, the whole process is altered and you don’t know. This remarkable capacity of thinking (generally lacking) can be turned to our advantage when we work with it, rather than being carried along in an uncontrolled stream. In either case, we have what goes by the name of auto-suggestion. If you feed your mind with thoughts of harmony and calm, they assume a form and space where you fit in. If you do not feed your mind, it will be filled with emotional input which is generally of a misunderstood and uncontrolled nature. So, be natural, think of nothing!

All perceptions of the senses transit through the memory, adding to the psychic capital in the all-conscious, so forming the basis for emotional reaction. However, when called up and perceived by the conscious mind they are interpreted with the latter’s limited power of reasoning and its means of deduction are not equipped to find a solution. The logical thing to do would be to refer to the all-conscious for help. But rest assured, humans are not rational.

That is why it is so important for the head and heart, the conscious and all-conscious “minds” to be in harmony. But if no one tells you, you can only stumble along, getting it right at times but not by design. It requires a very determined effort preceded by quiet conviction to understand that the all-conscious rules! We are a part of Nature, after all.

With the evolution and development of science or knowledge of sense-recognized phenomena, rather than the function of knowing, our connecting instinct has been steadily dominated. This faculty is always accessible by giving the all-conscious the necessary time to form an impression not imposed upon by the cerebral. We constantly call upon the all-conscious, albeit unawares, in everyday circumstances, after all, it is in a state of permanent waking, experiences no fatigue, nor error and consumes no mental energy. One only has to listen!

It is in the all-conscious that ideas are associated with the memory, playing a major role there for the individual. When you see something which reminds you of an event, something that happened in the past, it is because, independently of any deliberate effort, the all-conscious synchronizes that event to the memory it has in store. Without the all-conscious, the memory would be a jumble of unrelated souvenirs, only featuring in the conscious mind in an isolated manner. In the background it works quietly, secretly (for the conscious mind) relating and maturing the acquisitions of the memory and can, when called upon, offer them up to the intelligence, which is where the colouring book takes over, right/wrong, good/bad and we lose the unbiased simplicity of straightforward observation, familiar in meditation.

Unlike the physicist or mathematician, the radiesthesist is unable to live in a world of abstracts, everything must be a reality with no room for probabilities. Nature doesn’t deal in probabilities, only facts, yes or no.

THE 4 STAGES

To resume methodically what you need to do, here are the four stages of the mental process:

Stating the question or mental designation of the object searched, mentally envisaging and then orienting the mind towards it.

Expression in the cerebral conscious mind of a desire to become aware of the object of the research. While expressing the desire, a passive state of anticipation develops, keeping all external influences at bay. It also induces a “secondary state” in the operator, paving the way for suggestions from the all-conscious.

State of neutrality. As the expression of the desire is an instantly developed auto-suggestion it has the effect of putting the operator’s all-conscious in alert mode and compels discrimination of the existence or the state of the object searched for. The reaction of the all-conscious is more or less instantaneous and efficient, and depends totally on the way the desire was expressed.

Stating the question, which results in immediate connection to the all-conscious, in the form of neuro-muscular reflexes reaching the operator’s fingers, amplified by the pendulum, so giving a yes or a no.

  1. Mental designation

The mental designation of the object searched for, directs and orients the operator’s mind towards the object, to the exclusion of all other activity. It is the mentally expressed desire for the conscious to enter into relation with the all-conscious that can perceive the object or its emanations. The expression of desire goes hand in hand with the mental orientation and reinforces it. The expression of desire derived from the mental designation is a powerful auto-suggestion, making the operator sensitive to the presence or emanations of the object in question, setting in motion the mental activity and giving the spirit acting in the all-conscious incredibly perceptive and selective acuity. The mental designation as expressed when formulating the desire spares the operator accidental or parasitic suggestions and auto-suggestions and carefully limits the action of the all-conscious to search for the designated object alone.

  1. Expression of the question

The formulation of what you want to find out in the clearest manner possible. A matter of blending the information filtered carefully from the conscious mind and the designation of the object in question with the aim of the operation. The cardinal rule is clarity of expression, with no ambiguity allowed at the risk of obtaining the incorrect answer. This where the cerebral mind plays its role being aware of what is actually wanted.

  1. The passive state of anticipation

This is the third stage of the operation, it is the vital condition for efficient and selective perception, as well as the surest antidote to any undesirable form of auto-suggestion. It is a special state of mental receptivity, where you deliberately isolate the idea of what you are searching for. Nothing else exists, total inhibition of anything extraneous and distracting to the search. No matter what the object is, a material object, an abstract scientific problem, clarification of a sensitive question or a decision to be taken, this passive stage of anticipation is essential and is the upshot of concentrated attention.

Suggested exercise:

When seated (with eyes closed) in a calm, isolated place, think of a material object – not a person to begin with, a picture for example. You visualize the picture from the description or from what you have seen. Your whole undivided attention is concentrated on this alone, to the exclusion of all other ideas. Maintain normal breathing. When the outside world has completely disappeared, leaving only the idea and image of the picture in your mind, all things foreign to the search – noises, smells, etc. affecting the senses being absent, you have achieved the desired state. Maintain that state for a period specified beforehand, perhaps five minutes. This is a good way to achieve mental neutrality, required in the use of the pendulum. Depending on the individual, train every day until the state comes easily and quickly – for two weeks to three months.

This state of passive anticipation is necessary to establish communication with the all-conscious, which sometimes responds rapidly, sometimes slowly and sometimes not at all. It largely depends on how you go about it, but be wary if the answer comes too quickly. Just start again calmly. You will have confirmation in repetition of the response or by fact of likelihood (in some instances).

Immediately following the passive state of anticipation comes the active phase of the research, in fact a prolonged state of mental expectation would risk making the search sterile.

I like to think of this phase as the “mind in neutral”, a state that can be easily compared to that of meditation, vacuity, rest, no wave of mentation to disturb the mind-ocean. This is allowed by the conscious mind being in such a state, so avoiding any influence while the all-conscious does the work, behind the scenes as usual. It is a frame of mind to be encouraged and developed because it is in this phase that the answer reaches the nerves, after a final stimulation, by:

  1. Stating the question

The ground has been prepared in the previous three stages and the time is now right to ask the question using the formula carefully prepared in the conscious mind. Of course, this is the second occasion of asking the question, from the very start you have to know what it is you are after and the first thing you do is to determine what you want to know and then using the four stages you filter and prepare the ground, so to speak.

One of the major principles of radiesthesia is sensitivity and this seems to be the place to mention it. You become sensitive, or rather you make yourself sensitive to something by forming the mental desire to become so. One can become sensitive to whatever exists. While the verbal formulation to express what the operator wants to find is of the utmost importance, it is of even greater importance to avoid exercising one’s will or determination to accomplish one’s aim. This is a very delicate aspect which is incompatible with radiesthesia, or natural perception, there must be no force.

Neutrality is the secret in avoiding the influence of external suggestion and autosuggestion, simply say: “I am totally neutral, I know nothing, I am looking for…., and I would like to find….” and then continue with the questions.

Beware of: Lack of or wandering attention and forgetting any element of the four stages.

One last thing and it is very important. Don’t ever perform with the pendulum in public if your intention is to show people how it works. It is fine to use it in the supermarket to check if one packet of carrots is better than another producer’s, but do not make an exhibition of your new-found skill. There is always someone more powerful than you. I know people who can make the pendulum swing the way they want. One can end up looking silly!

CHOOSING A PENDULUM

Some home truths about pendulums right from the start are in order.

One can use anything to obtain an answer to a question one asks. A piece of string with a ring or even a simple metal nut attached, a blade of grass if it can move with sufficient flexibility, divining rods and so on and on. The means does not contain the answer, so should NOT be considered as an oracle! Unfortunately, many people invest a property into something which is little more than a vulgar medium.

How often does one hear that your pendulum is personal and you should not let anyone touch it? Do such protagonists also say you should not breathe the same oxygen as them, you might influence their thought! There lies the problem, there is no thinking in these matters which can only be seen as an attempt to control something which is not ours to control. Ignorance and her brother Mystification are alive and well, with many merchants profiting from our gullibility!

This does not mean that a crystal, stone or precious metal pendulum does not have its individual properties, BUT A DIVINING CAPACITY IS NOT ONE OF THEM. The capacity to answer a question belongs to the supreme intelligence which governs our worlds and although that intelligence is all-pervasive – even in the pendulum, it is the human thought and the projected motion that thought generates which is necessary before answers are forthcoming.

There is a capacity, belonging to those few, very determined individuals, to invest an object with a specific attribute but that is a practice in the domain of “magic”, which is not the focus here although often confused in the minds of those who tend to amalgamate what they find hard to explain.

So, the pendulum or rods are a simple means to accomplish an end.

Having said that, there are pendulums of a very specific and precise design which due to their form or composition do have very unique capacity. The first that springs to mind is the Universal Pendulum created by de Belizal and Chaumery, or the Karnak pendulum – origin unknown, which has the unique property due to its shape of creating a frequency on which a soul can “ride” to the light and exit the “world of incarnate beings”. Such pendulums are extremely useful, need to be very carefully designed, made and even more carefully handled. The Karnak must be kept unassembled because if not, it generates what de Belizal called the “negative green” frequency and it dehydrates. This same frequency is produced from the centre of the south wall and two-thirds on the way up inside of Kheops’ pyramid. It has a wavelength smaller than an X-ray and is immensely useful in the magnetic phase, as it gives life, but quite dangerous in the electric phase where it takes life.

SOME RECOMMENDATIONS

Practice is the key to becoming proficient and confident and you will find that the art of questioning is as important as the ability to move into the right state of mind while waiting for the answer to arrive from the all-conscious.

There are a number of “rules” of a practical nature which I have found best to observe to avoid making mistakes – which can still happen.

Physical vitality and moral rectitude are essential, so if you are feeling tired, depressed or upset it is best not to ask anything but the simplest of questions. By simple, I mean “Is it alright for me to eat this yogurt?”

The emotional aspect is extremely pertinent. If you are emotionally involved with someone, you risk finding erroneous answers to questions in their regard. Our thought process is clearly clouded by such issues and however hard one tries to step away from them, the turbulence is nigh impossible to clear. Best to avoid working on your spouse, partner, etc.

Another aspect of the emotional component is whether you can handle the answer. For example, if you are very attached to a person and want to spend your life with them, asking if they are the right person for you, is fraught with danger. The same applies when you ask such a question for others. Be sure of their ability and willingness to deal with the answer, the responsibility can be great.

Best avoid asking into the future, firstly there is too much that can change between times, secondly it may not be judicious for us to know and even if we are really good at this business, that does not mean we can replace the supreme intelligence, you do so at your risk.

Many of the French authors on the subject of radiesthesia mention that it is best not to work on stormy days. There is of course magnetic and electromagnetic interference in such weather and I believe that is the origin of such concern, but if you are working from the standpoint of this whole operation being a purely conscious-all-conscious affair there is little room for the weather, otherwise you would need to check for solar flares, coronal mass ejections, stellar and planetary influences, etc.